Stephen Crane: "A man saw a ball of gold..."

.

Astronauts entering a Lunar outpost: concept art by NASA, 15 May 2006 (NASA)

A man saw a ball of gold in the sky;
He climbed for it,
And eventually he achieved it --
It was clay.

Now this is the strange part:
When the man went to the earth
And looked again,
Lo, there was the ball of gold.
Now this is the strange part:
It was a ball of gold.
Aye, by the heavens, it was a ball of gold.

Lunar base and extra-base activity: concept art by NASA/Dennis Davidson, June 1986 (NASA)

for Ron Padgett

Stephen Crane: "A man saw a ball of gold...", from The Black Riders and Other Lines, 1895